The Rise of Angelina Jolie

Every now and then people ask me, “Why do you have people like Uma Thurman and Salma Hayek on your site? I thought ‘The Iconophile’ was all about obscure actresses.” It shouldn’t be long now before they start asking me the same thing about Angelina Jolie.

And that’s one of the conceptual problems of a site like this: sometimes the actresses here actually go on to be big stars.

At the time of this posting, that hasn’t completely happened yet for Angelina, but the signs are all there. She’s finally made a mainstream movie that people (well, critics) are actually talking about (Girl, Interrupted), which means her days of being confined to indie flicks and made-for-HBO movies are probably over. Magazines everywhere are carrying on about her acting talents, and most agree that her performances (particularly when playing unstable, maverick characters) have generally been better than the movies that featured them. And even if Girl, Interrupted tanks at the box office (which is likely), Jolie’s name and image are becoming more familiar through the film’s promos and endless Golden Globe coverage on E! More importantly, perhaps, is that she actually has a Hollywood-style rep now that precedes her.

You’ve probably heard some of the lore: The badass tattoos. The cutlery as foreplay. Her husband Johnny Lee Miller’s name scrawled in her own blood on her T-shirt at the wedding. Her quickie divorce. Her brief stint in a mental institution before checking out and marrying alleged tripod Billy Bob Thornton. Her strange relationship with her dad Jon Voight that leaves her quiet whenever his name is brought up in interviews. Her even stranger, seemingly incestuous relationship with her brother. Her curious struggle with identity and personal discovery that often leaves her less than articulate and very open to suggestion from people like Billy Bob who claim to have special knowledge of what is real and what is not. Her adventures in narcotics. Her penchant for nudity. And, of course, her universal sex appeal. (Told about an informal poll of straight women who voted her the one actress they’d have sex with, Angelina quipped that she’d be the one actress who would say yes.)

In short, Angelina’s public image has gone from non-existent to one of being wild, unstable, sexual, and a little spacey. Box office gold if she can keep it under control and not become an annoyance through over-exposure in the tabloids. Either way — succeed or fail — it looks like there are going to be Jolie pictures a-plenty on this site for at least the next few years.